Tomorrow everyone of you when he meets his friends and acquaintances will wish them a "Happy Christmas."

Many express this wish quite sincerely, believing that this is the day when one should wish all that is good to one's neighbor. Many will use this form of greeting because they have used it so long. There will be found also persons to whom it does not matter at all what they say to the friends they meet. "We are saying what everybody else is saying."

Tomorrow, day of the celebration of the birth of Christ, most of you will eat a fat turkey or chicken, or a fattened young pig with the traditional stuffing of buckwheat. All that, despite prohibition, will be washed down with some liquor, which makes some feel soft and full of love towards everybody, and arouses in others the desire to fight and behave in a disorderly way.

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To put it in a few words, we shall celebrate. In America we can have a celebration that may not be luxurious, but need not be beggarly.

But what is happening in Russia?

Will our people there be at least not hungry? Will our Russian children be able to sip a little milk and eat a slice of bread?

We know that there is again a drought in the Volga region. In the central part and in the south of Russia a civil war is threatening. This means famine for millions of children and adults. This is the kind of celebration that they are going to have in our native country.

While we here will stuff ourselves with all kinds of savory, rich food, there, on the Volga, the Dnieper and the Pripyat, little children will cry and beg for bread, just a small crust of bread.

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We shall not discuss now whose fault it is that a country which some time ago was the richest in bread, now extends its hand asking for bread like a beggar.

But we shall not close our eyes either to the fact that our native country is stricken by a calamity.

The Russian people need help. Russian babies want to eat. Should we not feed them?

Friends, readers, think of that and come to the rescue. Let no one among us say: "We do not recognize the bolsheviki, and shall not help them."

The bolsheviki themselves are not suffering from hunger. They can eat all they want. It is the poorest peasants and workmen and their children who are hungry.

Let not those who trust the bolsheviki refuse to help their people under 4the pretext that "Our workmen's and peasants' government will help the people out of this calamity."

It is difficult to tell whether the government will help out the people or not. Meanwhile the government is not able to cope, unaided from the outside, with all the calamities which have befallen the Russian people. If help had not been given from the outside during the first famine, many more people would have perished in the Volga region.

We should consider that, and having thought it over, we should come to the conclusion that Russia needs us.

We can help the hungering children in Russia, if not all, at least a part of them.

Let everyone of you try to spend tomorrow on your Christmas celebration only half of what you were intending to spend.

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It can be said safely that the majority of the readers of the Russian Herald has assigned for'good time' not less than one dollar.

Arrange things so that you will spend only 50 cents instead of one dollar, and give the remaining 50 cents to the relief of the hungry children and orphans in Russia.

The Russian Herald has, on the whole, about 20,000 readers. Let us admit that only a fourth part of these will find it possible to spare half a dollar for the good cause of helping the children of our people.

This will mean that 5,000 persons will contribute 50 cents each, which will give a total amount of $2,500. This sum of money would be of great help to those who need relief.

When we are speaking of readers of the Russian Herald, we do not mean only those who subscribe to this paper, but also all those who buy the paper from the stands or read it with some friend.

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Let such persons also not forget the small children who stretch their skinny little hands begging for a slice of bread.

If we are all to act thus; if we all celebrate Christmas, only in such a case shall we be able to say that our celebration was truly a holiday, not only for ourselves, but also for the hungry little children in Russia. They will not forget the good Russian-Americans, with big, compassionate hearts.

The Russian Herald proposes to all its readers to send to the hungry children in Russia, through its office, or through any other intermediary, half of the amount which they intend to spend tomorrow.

We shall publish reports on these donations and the names of all those who respond to our appeal.

Tomorrow let there be only one slogan for all of us: "Relief to the starving children in Russia instead of a 'good time.'"